Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 3280
“Preserve Me, O God: for in You do Iput My trust.” Psalm 16:1.
I BELIEVE that we have in this verse a prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some portions of this Psalm cannot apply to anyone but the Savior. And we have the examples of Peter and Paul to warrant us in saying that in this Psalm, David spoke of Jesus Christ. There is no apparent division in the Psalm, so that as one part of it refers most distinctly to Christ, we are justified in concluding that the whole of it refers to Him and belongs to Him! But we know that whatever belongs to Christ belongs, also, to all His people because of their vital union with Him, so we shall treat the text, first, as our Savior’s ownprayer. And then, secondly, we shall regard it also as theprayer of the followers of the Lamb.
I. So, first, we will take these words as OUR SAVIOR’S OWN PRAYER. “Preserve Me, O God: for in You do I put My trust.” And we will divide the text at once into two parts—the prayer itself—-“Preserve Me, O God.” And the argument or plea—“for in You do I put My trust.”
In considering these words as Christ’s prayer, does it not immediately strike you as a very singular thing that Christ should pray at all? It is most certain that He was “very God of very God,” that, “Word,” who was in the beginning with God, and who was Himself, God, the great Creator “without whom was not anything made that was made.” But, without in any degree taking away His Glory and dignity as God, we must never forget that He was just as truly Man, one of the great family of mankind and, “as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He, also, Himself, likewise took part of the same.” Though He remained sinless, He “was in all points tempted like as we are.” Being, therefore, Man, and intending to make Himself not only the atoning Sacrifice for His people, but also a perfect example that they might imitate, it became necessary that He should pray. What would a Christian be without prayer, and how could a Christ who never prayed be an example to a Christian? Yet notwithstanding the fact that it was necessary, it was marvelously condescending on our Savior’s part! The Son of God, with strong crying and tears making known His requests unto His Father, is one of the greatest marvels in all the ages! What a wondrous stoop it was that Jesus, the unsinning Son of God, the thrice-holy One, the Anointed, the Christ for whom prayer is to be made continually, should Himself have prayed to His Father!
Yet, while there is much condescension in this fact, there is also much comfort in it. When I kneel in prayer, it is a great consolation to me to know that where I bow before the Lord, there is the print of my Savior’s knees. When my cry goes up to Heaven, it goes along the road which Chris’s cry once traveled. He cleared away all impediments so that now my prayer may follow in the track of His. Be comforted, Christian, if you have to pray in dark and stormy nights, with the thought that your Master did the same—
“Cold mountains and the midnight air
Witnessed the fervor of His prayer!
The decent His temptation knew,
His conflict and His victory too.” If you have to pray in sore agony of spirit fearing that God has forsaken you, remember that Christ has gone further even than that into the depths of anguish in prayer, for He cried in Gethsemane, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken
Me?”
In addition to being condescending and comforting, this fact of our Savior praying shows the intimate communion there is between Christ and all the members of His mystical body. It is not only we who have to pray, but He who is our
Head bowed in august Majesty before the Throne of Grace. Throughout the narratives of the four Evangelists, one is struck with the many times that mention is made of Christ’s prayers. At His Baptism, it was while He was praying that “the Heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily shape, like a dove upon Him, and a Voice came from Heaven which said, You are My Beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” On another occasion, we read that, “as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, one of His disciples said unto Him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” On the Mount of Transfiguration, “as He prayed, the fashion of His Countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering.” Jesus was emphatically “a Man of prayer.” After a long day of teaching the people and healing the sick, instead of seeking repose, He would spend the whole night in prayer to God or, at another time, rising up a great while before day, He would depart into a solitary place and there pray for the needed strength for the new day’s duties.
Having thus noticed the fact of Christ’s praying, I want now to call your attention to the particular prayer in our text. I ask you first to observe that it is addressed to God in a peculiar aspect. You do not see this in our translation, but in the Hebrew it is, “Preserve me, O El.” That is one of the names of God and the same name that the Savior used when He cried, “Eloi, Eloi, lame Sabachthani?” “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Many Christians seem to have only one name for God, but the Hebrew saints had many titles for the one living and true God! Worldlings generally talk of, “The Almighty,” as though His only characteristic was the Omnipotent might which is displayed in great storms on the sea or terrible calamities on the land. But our Savior, whose knowledge of God was perfect, here selects a name of God peculiarly suitable to the condition in which He was when He offered this prayer, for according to most commentators, the word, “El,” means, “The strong One.” So it is weakness crying to the Strong for strength— “Preserve Me, O You who are so strong, so mighty, that You uphold all things by the word of Your power!” Others say that “El” means “The Ever-Present One.” This is a delightful name for God, and one that is most appropriate for a Believer to use when he is in peril on land or sea, in the den of lions or in the burning fiery furnace—“O You ever-present One, preserve me!” Jehovah is indeed “a very present help in trouble.” I wish we could acquire a more intimate knowledge of the Divine Character so that in calling upon Him in prayer, we could seek the aid of that special attribute which we need to have exercised on our behalf. What a blessed title is that of Shaddai which Bunyan uses in His Holy War—El Shaddai, God All-Sufficient or, as some render it, “The Many-Breasted God,” the God with a great abundance of heart, full of mercy and Grace, and supplying the needs of all His children out of His own fullness! Then take the other names or titles of God—Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Shammah, Jehovah-Shalom, Jehovah-Tsidkenu—and any others that you can find, and think how much better we could pray if, instead of always saying, “O Lord!” or, “O God!” we appealed to Him under some title which indicates the attribute which we desired to be exerted on our behalf!